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Specific Provisions of HB 187 Helpful to Cities

...Section 124.44 - Chief of Police - Appointment

Permissive authority for a city to provide by ordinance or resolution an alternative selection procedure for chief of police is proposed as an option to the prescribed statutory procedures.  This is an important management position in a city government's structure.  Furthermore the position of chief of police is of increasing importance in these times of providing additional homeland security.

...Section 124.44 - Promotions - Police Department

The proposal would authorize the appointing authority to choose from a list of the top three scoring applicants rather than a list of one as under current law.  A list of three is the rule for promotions of other employees which are not members of the safety forces and gives the appointing authority additional flexibility in choosing the best qualified candidate.

...Section 124.43 - Original Appointments - Patrol Officer and Firefighter

This provision allows for original appointments to be made from an eligible list containing the names of all applicants passing the examination.  It would make more sense to establish a list of the ten highest passing applicants as is the case for original appointment of other  employees.

...Section 124.45 - Fire Chief - Appointment

Permissive authority for a city to provide by ordinance or resolution an alternate selection procedure for fire chief is proposed as an option to the prescribed statutory procedures.    This is an important management position in a city government's structure.  Because of the many new technologies and the heightened awareness of potential terrorist attacks this position has taken on a new importance.

...Section 124.48 - Promotions - Fire Departments

This proposal would allow for the eligible list to contain the top three scoring candidates on the promotional examination rather than one as in current law.  A list of three is the rule for other employees which are not members of the safety forces and would give the appointing authority needed flexibility in choosing the best qualified candidate.

..Section 124.321 - Furlough- 70 Days

This provides a much needed alternative to lay-offs.

General Observations and Comments

The Civil Service laws for the State of Ohio and its political subdivisions are the classic “one size fits all” statutes that just don't fit all.  The system is inflexible, often cumbersome, difficult to interpret, and certainly not timely.

...Make the Civil Service statutes more user friendly.  The provisions of Chapter 124 ORC are currently presented in a manner that cannot be easily followed.  Members of municipal civil service commissions are not necessarily professionals in the field; they are part-time appointees.  In all but the largest of cities, these commissioners seldom have sufficient professional full-time staff to assist them in performing their statutorily prescribed duties.  As a possibility reorder the statutes so that it is clear which sections apply to the state, which to counties, which to cities, etc.

...In order to obtain the best labor force to perform the numerous services required and demanded of cities, a wide variety of testing or assessment methods need to be clearly permitted for all municipal employees covered under civil service.  Flexibility in the use of these methods either singly or in combination must rest with the city with some comfort level that the municipal civil service commission won't always be second guessed.  Increased technical assistance in the testing area could be provided by the state both in the selection of the testing mechanism and the conduct of the test or assessment.

...While the procedures currently in statutes on displacement and lay-off may make some sense for the State of Ohio with large numbers of employees in each of multiple classifications, it is overwhelming to municipalities which have vastly smaller numbers of employees and far fewer classifications.  In some instances it probably doesn't work at all.  Perhaps it is time to look at allowing local governments to develop these types of procedures themselves if they comply with some statutorily prescribed guidelines.